Good News From The Scientific Community

Yesterday CBN News reported that the Nobel Prize for medicine has been awarded to John Gurdon from the United Kingdom and Shinya Yamanaka from Japan. The two scientists were involved in cell research.

The article reports:

Scientists John Gurdon from the United Kingdom and Shinya Yamanaka from Japan discovered it’s possible to take a cell out of an adult patient, strip-down the cell to what it was like when it was a brand new, healthy cell, then put that healthy cell into the patient in the part of the body that’s sick: such as  the brain, the spine, or heart.

The healthy cell then regenerates and takes over the sick area, making the patient well again.

The technique has proved successful with heart patients in a study at the University of Louisville.

The cells that the scientists used were adult stem cells, not embryonic stems cells.

The article further reports:

“It’s not hype, it is really hope. I think that stem cells will likely become a routine part of the treatment of cardiovascular disease in the next  few years,” Dr. Bolli said.

The discovery is good news for those who believe in the sanctity of life. Until now, much of the scientific community believed this type of cell regeneration needs to start with living, human embyos, a process that destroys the embryo.

This research will allow stem cell research to continue without creating life in order to destroy it. Adult stem cells have generally proven to be more successful in helping cure certain diseases than embryonic stem cells. This is a win for patients and for those who believe that life should not be created for the purpose of being destroyed.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Adult Stem Cells And Heart Disease

On Wednesday, CBN News posted a story about the use of adult stem cells to treat heart disease. Dr. Roberto Bolli at the University of Louisville has completed an adult stem cell treatment on 16 heart failure patients — and the study was largely successful.

The article reports:

“It’s not hype, it is really hope,” he said. “I think that stem cells will likely become a routine part of the treatment of cardiovascular disease in the next few years.”

Bolli took cells from a healthy part of the patient and infused them into the patient’s heart, causing the regeneration of previously dead heart tissue.

Please note–these are adult stem cells from the patient’s own body, there were no embryonic stem cells involved. Since the cells were taken from the patient, there was no danger of rejection.

The article points out:

Other researchers have used adult stem cells to restore vision to patients whose eyes were damaged by chemicals.They have also been used to treat leukemia, lymphoma and other blood diseases, heal broken bones, and create skin grafts.

The article reports:

Because of the promise of Bolli’s work, the National Institutes of Health has awarded a $3.4 million grant for more research at the University of Louisville over the next seven years.

Hopefully Dr. Bolli’s research will mean longer, healthier lives for many people.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Hidden In The Small Print…

Big Government is reporting today on some aspects of ObamaCare that I don’t think any of us had considered. Your cell phone is about to become a medical device (yes, you read that right) and your own stem cells are drugs. Good grief!

The article reports:

And because your phone has on it the two dollar blood pressure app – the Obama FDA asserts that they can thusly regulate your entire phone.  Because according to them that one app has turned your phone into a “medical device.”

Under the FDA’s expansive parameters, almost any device on which you do almost anything regarding your health – your smartphones, your tablets, your desktop and laptop computers – will be regulated.

Did you use your smartphone/tablet/computer camera or microphone to monitor something health-related?  It just became an Obama FDA-regulated medical device.

Did you save your health care data on any smartphone/tablet/computer? That too is now regulated.

Did you send an email containing any health care information to your doctor?  The device from which you sent said missive is too now regulated.

…Obama’s FDA is concurrently asserting that the adult stem cells in your body are a “drug” – and that therefore your body is now government regulatory property.

In another outrageous power-grab, FDA says your own stem cells are drugs—and stem cell therapy is interstate commerce because it affects the bottom line of FDA-approved drugs in other states!…

We have entered the Twilight Zone. If you care to leave the zone, please vote Republican in November.

Enhanced by Zemanta

The Free Market Eventually Triumphs

Today’s Daily Caller posted a story about a change in the research and use of stem cells.

The article reported:

Geron Corp., the world’s leading embryo research company, announced it was closing down its much-touted stem cell program, despite the guarantee of more government aid from Democratic-affiliated sources.

The article explained that most stem cells used in hospitals and medical facilities today are adult stem cells taken from the patient’s own body.

The article concludes:

Those “adult stem cells” can be stimulated to regenerate damaged hearts and other organs. In one peer reviewed study published on Nov. 16, more than a dozen heart-failure patients gained an average 12 percent improvement in heart function from their own stimulated stem cells.

This uncontroversial adult cell technology was pioneered by hospitals, not drug companies. It is sufficiently reliable that insurance companies green-light its use for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, lupus and many other ailments, and it is cheered by social conservatives and religious groups because it improves medical treatments without killing human embryos.

When a technology works well, it will be used more, without having to rely on the government to pay for it.

Enhanced by Zemanta